Good weather aids construction of new fire station in New Philadelphia

Tuesday

Nov 29, 2016 at 12:33 PMNov 30, 2016 at 11:07 AM

By Jon Baker Times-Reporter staff writer

NEW PHILADELPHIA Fire Chief Jim Parrish is pleased with how things are progressing on the city's new $4 million fire station.

The project is within its budget and good weather has aided construction, he said.

"When you do a project of this magnitude, there's a lot of room for errors and unforeseen things, but those have been minimal at this point," the chief said. "We're hopeful that it just continues to stay like that."

He is also confident the New Philadelphia taxpayers will be pleased with the final result.

"I think when we're complete, the taxpayers will see we were very judicious in how we spent their money, and that it's a fire station for the future, just not for today's needs," he said. "It's not a Cadillac, and it's not a bicycle. It's the middle of the road, like everything else that we do. We want good equipment. We want good facilities for our employees to work out of that are safe, like anyone would want to work out of. But we're also not splurging on things."

Parrish said he expects the new station should be completed sometime in June 2017.

Voters approved a 1-mill tax issue in November 2015 to finance construction of the 20,000-square-foot facility on property the city owns on Front Avenue SE.

The first floor of the fire station will have two apparatus bays — one facing Front Avenue and one facing First Drive. Future generations will have the ability to expand the bays if necessary. Also located on the first floor will be a turnout gear room, classrooms for training, offices and a media room.

Few load-bearing walls were incorporated into the design so that future generations could move partition walls or anything they might need to do to accommodate future needs, Parrish said.

The first floor will also include a weight room for firefighters to exercise and do physical training.

"Firefighting is a physically demanding job, and we want our firefighters to be physically fit and ready to go," he said.

The current weight room is located in the basement of the Tuscarawas County Convention & Visitors Bureau a half a block away from the current station on Second Street SE. "It's not very efficient when your house is on fire, and our guys have to jog down the street," the chief said.

The second floor has living quarters for the firefighters.

The new facility also includes a training tower.

"When we had our last ISO evaluation, one of the things we were deficient in is we didn't have a training facility or a tower," Parrish said. "We needed a place to dry our hose when we have a fire. We scrub the hose, and we either have to put it in a dryer or hang it. Currently, we hang it in the back of the bay. We decided to incorporate a training tower that doubles as hose tower. We will receive maximum points for our ISO rating by doing that."

ISO is a grading system for fire departments. New Philadelphia was last graded in 2014, when it improved from a Class 4 to Class 3.

"I'm happy that we improved from a 4 to a 3," Parrish said. "My personal goal is to have a 1 by the time I retire from here. That's a hefty goal, but it's certainly obtainable."

The rating is dependent on such things as organization, communications, water supply and fire department equipment, training and facilities.

The new station is designed with future needs in mind.

"You can't think of everything. We have needs today that we didn't have in 1905 when we built this building," he said of the current station. "A lot about firefighting has changed. A few things have remained the same. It's still water on fire."

The department plans to construct a separate facility behind the new fire station where firefighters could do live fire training, search and rescue, rope rescue, ventilation and forcible entry. There isn't enough money available now to build it, but a pad will be poured in preparation for when the funding can be found, he said.

Parrish praised the efforts of Brian Stull, who is project manager for Diversified Engineering. He represents the architect and the engineering firm and is on the construction site every day. "I have a lot of trust in Brian Stull. He just does an excellent job."

New Philadelphia firefighters are excited by the prospect of moving into the new facility.

"It's kind of bittersweet because most of us have grown up here in this building," he said of the current station. "But I think a few days after we get in the new facility and see how much room we have, we'll be wondering how we really operated in the current facility."

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